“There’s a lot of concern, I guess you’d say, about what’s going to happen,” Ricky Bertz, Grizzlies owner and general manager, said Tuesday, “especially given what’s going on with the Alaska Wild.”
The Grizzlies’ nearest neighbor in the IFL is the Alaska Wild in Anchorage. Speculation about the Wild not returning in 2011 is heavy, and without the Wild in the state, fans began to wonder if the Grizzlies would be sticking around. Bertz said the IFL has Fairbanks scheduled for the 2011 season.
In a nutshell, Bertz said the league made changes to travel requirements for teams coming to Alaska, and the only financial change he can see for the Grizzlies next year is they won’t be able to travel to Anchorage, which saves them money in travel costs.
“The league recognized some issues and are working to make things more financially feasible,” Bertz said. “I’m anticipating a couple new teams in Washington, Oregon, Idaho. That would make it cheaper for us to get there and for them to get here.”
Bertz said he thinks teams next year will be more responsible for their travel arrangement and expenses. This doesn’t mean he isn’t expecting to help the league out when it comes to arranging teams’ travel to Fairbanks.
“The team at Sunshine Travel in town are great and have done a lot of travel for other teams in the IFL,” he said. “After all, no one understands traveling to Alaska better than people who live here,” he said.
Gearing up for the 2011 season isn’t something Bertz thinks the Grizzlies will have a problem doing. He said coach Sean Ponder has already started talking to players about who is going to be back.
“There’s really no off season,” Bertz said. “We had a successful 2010 season, but we fell short of some goals we had. It’s kind of tough to accept the closure, but nothing helps in getting over that than working for next year.”
Two seasons ago, the Grizzlies finished the regular season with an 3-11 record. Last season they finished 7-7. With the most wins in franchise history, this year’s Grizzlies finished the IFL regular season 9-5.
“There were only a couple of teams who had more wins and points than us,” Bertz said, “so we’ll continue to make progress in that direction. Our goal is to win a league championship, and having a successful program definitely helps that.”
Grizzlies offensive lineman Nick Marshman and defensive back Johnell Brown were named to All-IFL teams at the end of the 2010 regular season. Bertz said many Grizzlies could have been considered some of the best in the league, and individual success will help better players come to Fairbanks in the future.
“Having players getting recognized starts with the coaching staff,” Bertz said. “The coaches are giving them opportunities, and how the organization handles it and what they do for the players is going to help us get more players to come to Alaska. The more success we show on and off the field, the more premiere players we can get.”
Although Bertz said the Grizzlies didn’t reach their goals in 2010, they took huge steps in the right direction, the direction the team will continue heading in when the 2011 rolls around.
“We’ll be back,” he said. “No doubt about it. We’ll be back next year, and we’ll have the same goal we had this year. We want to win a league championship.”
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